Also in 1971, Charles Manson and three women were found guilty of killing actor Sharon Tate and six other people in Los Angeles.

In 1981, 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days returned to the United States.

In 1984, Apple's Macintosh computer went on sale. Price tag: $2,495.

In 1990, a Colombian jetliner with little fuel left crashed in Long Island, N.Y., after missing its first approach to Kennedy Airport. Seventy-three people died.

In 1991, a huge Persian Gulf oil slick began to form as Iraqi forces sabotaged Kuwaiti oil terminals.

In 1993, a man with a rifle opened fire near the main CIA gate in Langley, Va., killing two agency employees and wounding three others.

Also in 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton put his wife, Hillary Clinton, in charge of a healthcare task force with a mandate to produce a plan for universal coverage in 100 days.

In 2004, Opportunity, the second of two NASA robot explorers, landed on Mars, joining its twin to explore the planet.

In 2006, the militant Islamic group Hamas, calling for destruction of Israel, scored a stunning victory in the Palestinian parliamentary election.

In 2007, a car and two motorcycles rigged with explosives exploded in three Baghdad sites, killing at least 32 people and injuring at least 80 others.

In 2008, China's Ministry of Railway said 18 railroad workers were killed and nine injured by a high-speed train that barreled into their work site in Anqiu.

In 2009, voters in Bolivia approved a new constitution expanding the rights of the indigenous people, who made up about 55 percent of the Bolivian population.

In 2010, the man known as "Chemical Ali" -- Ali Hassan al-Majid, cousin and aide to Saddam Hussein -- was executed in Iraq for his role in a poison-gas attack in which 5,000 Kurds were killed.

Also in 2010, car bombs tore through security barricades of three Baghdad hotels and an apartment building in a coordinated attack that killed 36 people and wounded 71.

In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, announced plans to reduce the federal deficit by $400 billion over 10 years. The plan includes budget cuts and domestic spending freezes.

In 2012, Amnesty International denounced Brazilian authorities for what they said was forcibly evicting an estimated 6,000 people from a slum area 50 miles from Sao Paulo.

Also in 2012, as many as 73 people died after taking suspected tainted heart medicine in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore with 500 others sickened. Officials closed the pharmaceutical factory believed to have manufactured the medicine.

A thought for the day: Eric Hoffer wrote, "The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from becoming anything."